Inappropriate content, sampling, copyright and national emergencies…and pentagrams

April 26, 2020

“In some lost fold of the past, we wanted to be lions and we’re no more than castrated cats.” – Roberto Bolaño

Is free access to 1.4 million books fair use, or outright copyright infringement? Via the National Emergency Library anyone can access the archive freely via online format until at least June 20, 2020, or whenever the national emergency in the United States is declared over. Of course, some authors and publishers are not very happy about this. So, question for you while you sip your coffee: does a national emergency constitute fair use?

After last week’s missive, I received an email from a subscriber informing me that he was unsubscribing to my updates due to “inappropriate content.” Ay, Jesus (ß- read, ay heysoos; not ay, Geezuz). Was it my comment on Justice Ginsburg’s pants that did it? Was it the Iron Maiden album cover? Art? A keen reader will remember that last week’s missile referenced “goddamned” sensitivity in people, so, yes, sorry, like it or not nobody fucks with da Jesus!

On the subject of fragile egos, art critic Adrian Searle details how he feels about hurting feelings, in particular the fragile feelings of artists and even some from their families, as well as from well-known curators and museum directors, not to mention gallery people, collectors and private individuals.

From the Something Isn’t Right Here Files: Does it strike anybody as odd that so many art museums and institutions are furloughing hourly-rate employees but only decreasing salaried employees by 10 to 30%? Let’s think: zero of $15 an hour is zero, yet 30% of $1.2 million is, what, take home pay of $840,000 (not including perks)? I don’t know…, maybe Cindy was right: money changes everything?

Did you know: that Billy Squier is one of the most sampled rockers in hip-hop? Just listen to The Stroke, featuring the late and my favorite rock drummer, Bobby Chouinard. Chouinard’s quintessential 4/4 rock beat poignantly illustrates that flash and drum set size mean nothing if you ain’t rockin’. Listen also to The Big Beat intro—also featuring Chouinard on drums—and I think you’ll agree (and yes, it sounds better in stereo). As my good friend and drum teacher, Brannen Temple once said to me, “if the crowd ain’t movin’, you ain’t grooving.”

What’s the difference between sampling music and appropriating content for art? Some heavy law thoughts here. If you’re interested in what the hell constitutes plagiarism, here’s a great little book by one of my favorite legal scholars, Richard A. Posner, that will walk you through the differences between the ethics and law on copying, as well as the origins of plagiarism and its socio-cultural standing.

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